LEAH WILKS
Photo by Leah Wilks
APRIL 5 & 12
10AM-12PM
$5-15 sliding scale
How might non-human life cycles, decay, electrical impulse, plants, and dancing all be the same thing? Where do drawings of synapses firing and descriptions of lightning causing flushes of mushrooms meet, and how does this meeting inspire movement in our bodies? Can we put seemingly disparate things side by side and invite ourselves out of a rut? Together we will hone attention, intention, intuition - utilize creative decision making that bypasses the frontal lobe - encourage the unknown in each other. We’ll disorient, reorient, improvise, make things, maybe touch, definitely sweat. Class will begin with physical rituals for letting things go/end/decay, will continue with practices of attention/sensation, allow time for deeper play/investigations/research, and then offer space for any new discoveries to emerge. Leah will bring books and drawings and such to guide our time together - please bring your own as well if you are so inspired.
Photo by Anna Maynard
LEAH WILKS
Leah is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher currently based out of Brooklyn, NY (Munsee Lenape and Canarsie land), and originally from Durham, NC (Eno, Lumbee, Shakori, Sissapahaw, and the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation land). At times, she is also a gardener, elder-care companion, musician, facilitator, end-of-life companion, and writer. Leah has taught and shared her work in a variety of locations including the American Dance Festival, Elon University, University of Michigan, Ponderosa Tanzland festival, Gibney Dance, the Hemispheric Institute, and PROTEO|media+performance’s Post/Futures Festival. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she received awards for teaching and choreography. Leah has collaborated/performed with artists Kendra Portier, Anna Barker/Real.Live.People, Tommy DeFrantz/SLIPPAGE, Okwui Okpokwasili, Alexis Blake, and Nicola Bullock among others. She was a 2023 Artist in Residence at MOtiVE Brooklyn, and is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship.